Blast from punk past with MC5

Nothing is ever invented in rock. It’s all a continuum, one generation feeding the next. When the Ramones and Sex Pistols created punk rock in the ‘70s, they were just picking up from what had come before -- the Stooges and the MC5.

Both acts have staged unexpected, fiery reunions recently, and the surviving members of the Motor City 5 finally arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday to tear the roof off the Echo as a band called DKT/MC5, reuniting guitarist Wayne Kramer, bassist Mike Davis and drummer Dennis Thompson.

The 90-minute performance leaned almost entirely on the original MC5 songbook, erupting with “Tonight” and “Ramblin’ Rose” with the help of a rotating cast of rockers -- Marshall Crenshaw, Mark Arm, Evan Dando -- to fill in for the late guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith and singer Rob Tyner, who both died in the ‘90s.

Kramer has been an epic player for years, at least since reemerging a decade ago as a solo artist. At the Echo, he unleashed multilayered solos that were harsh and elegant, loose and muscular. If Kramer was this great back in the ‘60s, it’s not on the records, which at least suggests the man has grown as a player while still finding inspiration in his earliest material. And his former partners on bass and drums kept right up with him.

Just as crucial were the trio of veteran horn players. “These are Detroit musicians,” Kramer said proudly, and he just as easily could have been speaking about the entire band when he added, “We know what time it is.”